Permit me to congratulate you on the successful organisation of this
historic Conference in this vibrant city of Johannesburg. Permit me also,
to thank you for the warm hospitality of the Government of South Africa
and your people which we have deeply appreciated. The issues on the agenda
of the Conference are crucial to the future of mankind. What is the philosophy
which should guide us in their resolution? Mahatma Gandhi, the enduring
symbol of our common legacy of struggle, had this advice to give to policy
makers ". "Whenever you are in doubt, or when the self becomes too much
with you, apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and
the weakest man whom you may have seen, and ask yourself, if the step you
contemplate is going to be any use to him. Will he gain anything by it?
Will it restore him to a control over his life and destiny?"

This call encompasses the philosophy of what is recognized today as
essentials of sustainable development - man has to be at the center of
all development efforts; his control over his life and environs assured
to him by the State. In the convening of this Conference, all of us gathered
here are still seeking means to translate that idea into action.

Mr. President, the preparatory process which carried us to this Summit
could have been more productive in terms of results. I am aware of the
"cautionary approach" with which delegations have participated in the deliberations.
However, while glancing through the draft Programme of Implementation,
I have been struck by the richness of the debate which the process has
generated.

There, within less than a hundred pages, was the product of efforts
to list, define and recommend action on every aspect of human activity
which impacts life on earth. With poverty eradication given unquestioned
priority, the document also scrutinizes unsustainable patterns of consumption
and production, which bear the greater guilt for degrading the environment
through profligate use of finite resources, than do teeming numbers of
the impoverished. Because we focus on sustainable development, we underplay
the fact that the real problem is unsustainable consumption and the pressure
it generates on the earth's finite resources. It is this attachment to
unsustainable consumption patterns, and a determination to preserve and
raise levels of prosperity at any cost, that breeds resistance to any meaningful
reform in the financial and economic structures that underpin global society
today, and results in the neglect of the development agenda.

The poor are not the biggest consumers of the world's resources; the
rich are. The concept of sustainable development puts an unequal burden
on developing countries as their developmental aspirations are considered
potentially threatening to the prosperity of the developing countries and
come under close scrutiny. On the other hand, the developed countries who
by definition have transcended the challenges of development, pursue growth
and increased prosperity without similar scrutiny with regard to sustainability.
Issues such as good governance, democracy, debt reduction, poverty alleviation,
social and health questions, of primary importance in themselves, are being
used to maintain undue focus on the problems of developing countries and
deflect attention away from the core responsibilities of the developed
world.

The process has also highlighted the truth that sustainable development
requires governance that is democratic both in form and substance. Nobel
laureate Amartya Sen has used the experience of India to illustrate this.
A sub-continent plagued by famine during its colonial history changed its
destiny after opting for democracy - it continued to experience crop failures,
but never a famine. Democratic governance with all its elements has to
be accountable to its people.

Mr. President, while this process has thrown up pertinent issues on
which we must act together, it has also sadly underscored a fundamental
gap in the understanding of the legitimate needs of developing countries.
It is difficult to pursue enlightened approaches to development in a world
where ODA levels are falling, protectionism is on the rise, terms of trade
are stacked in favour of the rich, debt burdens have spiralled, corporate
governance need urgent redefinition, and the volatility of international
capital transfers has affected productive investment flows to the South.
Thus, according to the Human Development Reports of 2002, 2.8 billion people
still live on less than $2 a day and the richest 1 % of the world's people
receive as much income each year as the poorest 57%. Industrial country
tariffs on imports from developing countries are four times those on imports
from other industrial countries. In addition, as is well known, OECD countries
provide about $1 billion a day in domestic agricultural subsidies which
is more than 6 times what they spend on ODA for developing countries.

All of us in the developing world realise that the principal responsibility
of development in a country has to be that of the country itself. But those
of us who remember Rio recall that the commitments for `sustainable' development,
taken in good faith by the developing countries, were premised on the availability
of new and additional financial resources and transfer of environmentally-sound
technologies by developed countries on a concessional basis.

India has taken its own national responsibilities seriously. Sustainable
development has become an integral part of our planning process. The Government
has published an assessment of 10 years of Agenda 21, based on the Indian
experience, to commemorate the Johannesburg WSSD. I am happy to inform
you, Mr. President, that India deposited its instrument of accession to
the Kyoto Protocol on August 26 in New York and we are now preparing to
host the 8th

Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change. India's commitment to sustainable development is second
to none.

Mr. President, sustainable development was conceived as a unifying philosophy.
It was born of our combined idealism at Rio where we had pledged, each
one of us, on the basis of our common but differentiated responsibilities
and capabilities to act in a concerted manner for the greater good of mankind
and our carrying planet.

Let me conclude with an invocation from the ancient Indian text Atharvaveda,
composed 3200 years ago in 1200 B.C.
"O Mother Earth! You are the world for us and we are your children;
let us speak in one accord; let us come together so that we live in peace
and harmony."